Under arrest
Under arrestiStock

The grandson of a lawmaker from the haredi United Torah Judaism party was arrested on Monday for drug trafficking.

The man had raised the suspicions of customs officials at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, who found 11 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his Tefillin (Phylacteries). The suspect was immediately arrested and claims that he was tricked into transferring a package to an acquaintance while remaining ignorant of its illicit contents.

"The suspect has nothing to do with these drugs," said his attorney Abu Amar. "He was deceived by others and has no connection to the incident. This is a young man who has no criminal record of any kind."

Judge Dov Gotlieb extended the suspect's arrest after ruling that there was sufficient evidence connecting the MK's grandson to drug smuggling.

"From examining the investigation file and hearing the arguments of the parties, it appears that there is reasonable suspicion against the suspect for the offenses attributed to him," said Gottlieb. "I also found that there is grounds for arresting the suspect in light of the danger that he will try to disrupt the investigation."